The Middle Park High School Cross Country team ended its season this past weekend after competing at the regionals in Aspen. The team finished in seventh place out of 14 participating 3A Region 1 teams. Neither team qualified for the state championships.

Sophomore Brianna Byrnes finished in 15th place, qualifying individually for the state championships, which will take place on Saturday, Oct 31, in Colorado Springs. This was Byrnes’ second consecutive year qualifying. 

Byrnes is hopeful about her upcoming race after finishing the August Pre-State race, held on the same course as the upcoming championships, in 31st place with a time of 23:07. She said the result showed improvement from last year. 

Although the team did not qualify for the state championships, coach Brian Seppala said the race was its most competitive of the season, providing the team with a morale victory. The team’s performance in Aspen represented its growth throughout the season. Seppala said the team trained hard, practicing five to six days a week in all weather conditions, and competing in seven races. 

“We tried to select all of our invitational races to really hit a point of racing that the kids would have to be good at at regionals, and they were all different to try and build the most well-rounded athlete we could heading into regionals,” said Seppala. 

The team was led by Seppala, assistant coach Rachel Greenwell, and senior captains Riley Piller and Chloe Seppala, whom Seppala describes as “born leaders.” 

Standout runners included Reid Seppala, who finished 23rd at regionals as the top freshman in Class 3A, Region 1, in 19:13. Chase Fosha was a standout runner all season, finishing regionals in 18:27 with a 7.89% percent-back rating. Freshman Zoe Jones had a breakout race at regionals in 24:06. 

Chloe Seppala and Layla Stokled also had notable performances this season, Seppala said. 

Chloe Seppala, daughter of Brian Seppala, said she loved mentoring new runners and watching them achieve new personal records and season bests. For her, the most notable race was the Oct. 9 Warrior XC Invitational in Grand Junction, where many runners on the team achieved personal records. Byrnes finished the race with a seasonal personal record of 20:41. 

Outside of training, season highlights included a run-a-thon at Kaibab Park, a cross country fundraiser and a team dinner at Drowsy Water Ranch. The team shared memories such as visiting Glenwood Hot Springs after a Grand Junction race and taking team photos in the rain. 

Raising spirits was necessary during the Summit Stinger in Copper, which Seppala said is advertised as one of the hardest races in the country and challenged the team. Athletes had to run up a hill with a 22% grade three times. 

An additional challenge was training hard to keep up with other competitive teams in the region. Seppala said it was important for the team to enter the season in good shape, starting training on June 1 each season and running throughout the entire summer. 

Seppala said that he’s looking forward to continued growth next season, with incoming eighth graders boosting the team’s numbers and underclassmen stepping into leadership roles. 

“There’s going to be a real void in the leadership, and I’m just looking forward to having some of these current high schoolers grow into that leadership position,” Seppala said. 

Chloe Seppala is bittersweet about leaving the team but hopes that current juniors can fill her shoes. 

“I’m excited to watch them continue to grow and continue to run faster than ever, and I hope that they build on this massive season that we had and maybe even qualify a team for state next year,” Chloe Seppala said. 

“I personally think cross country is one of the hardest sports out there because there’s no bench, there’s no timeout, there’s no subs. We just run, and running is hard. I’m really proud of all these kids for doing 10 weeks of hard training, and it paid off,” Seppala said.